Masters Round 1 live

The Masters is back at Augusta National on Thursday, April 9, and Round 1 opened with the usual split-screen problem: one leaderboard moving fast, and several huge names starting at different times across the course. Early coverage centered on Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau, Scottie Scheffler and the first wave of scores coming in from the 90th edition of the tournament. (espn.com, pgatour.com) This is the first major championship of the 2026 men’s golf season, and it runs from April 9 through April 12 at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Augusta is the same course every year, which is why one bad bounce on a known hole can feel bigger here than at most tournaments that rotate venues. (golf.com, pgatour.com) Rory McIlroy arrived as the defending champion after winning the 2025 Masters, which is why Thursday carried a different kind of pressure for him than for anyone else in the field. ESPN’s tournament preview framed the week around whether McIlroy could win a second straight green jacket and whether world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler could claim a third Masters title. (espn.com, espn.com) One of Thursday’s most watched pairings was McIlroy with Bryson DeChambeau, because it put the defending champion next to one of the biggest hitters in the sport from the opening round. The Augusta Chronicle listed McIlroy’s Round 1 tee time at 10:31 a.m. Eastern time, turning the late morning window into the day’s main draw. (augustachronicle.com, augustachronicle.com) The field itself is one of the reasons the Masters feels different from a regular tour stop. GOLF.com noted that players from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf were all in the same 2026 field, so Round 1 mixed golfers who spend most of the year on separate circuits. (golf.com) Watching the tournament also takes some planning because the coverage is spread across several windows instead of one all-day broadcast. ESPN’s live TV coverage began at 3 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, while streaming feeds started much earlier with featured holes, featured groups, Amen Corner and holes 15 and 16. (espn.com, cbssports.com) CBS Sports said fans could watch every shot from selected stars through streaming options including ESPN+ and Paramount+, which is why the live experience now feels more like choosing camera angles at a football game than waiting for one network feed to decide what matters. PGA Tour coverage also highlighted expanded viewing options across the week, including Amazon Prime Video alongside the usual television partners. (cbssports.com, pgatour.com) By late morning, the live leaderboard had already started to bunch around early red numbers, with CBS Sports showing Tommy Fleetwood and Kurt Kitayama among the names at 3-under while still early in their rounds. That is normal Augusta behavior on Thursday: the first page of the board fills quickly, then the course starts taking strokes back as the afternoon builds. (cbssports.com, cbssports.com) That is why so many outlets are running live blogs instead of just posting a leaderboard. A number next to a player’s name tells you he is 2-under; a live feed tells you whether that came from a hole-out, a two-putt birdie, or surviving Augusta National’s stretch around Amen Corner without wrecking the round. (cbssports.com, espn.com) So Thursday’s story is really two stories at once: the slow build of a four-day major, and the fast churn of one morning’s scoreboard. McIlroy and DeChambeau draw the cameras, but the first round at Augusta always leaves room for someone like Fleetwood or Kitayama to grab the board before the favorites even reach the turn. (augustachronicle.com, cbssports.com)